News from London

[Mike the Pike]

Exactly Ashmie

[ashmie]

Anyways, what I was trying to say is despite all these so-called social disadvantages, ultimately, we are all responsible for our own decisions. I know I am. And I know for sure that even if I had come from an underclass background I would certainly never have smoked or drunk alcohol underage, driven over the speed limit, parked illegally, urinated in public, smoked marijuana, breached the New Year liquor ban at Whangamata or any other sort of criminal mischief. I doubt any of you lot would either, right?

Now, back to my original question, when the time comes, who amongst you will join Jesus, Gandhi and I in stoning these scum-sucking leeches to death?

Mike are you serious? Clearly New Zealand is a lot stricter and safer than Britain has ever been. I can't work out if you're joking or not.
No I'm not interested in stoning anyone, sorry.

[Mike the Pike]

Sorry Ashmie. My tongue may just have been in my cheek as I wrote the last few posts.

[ashmie]

Got it! That is quite funny then But this is a serious situation so I was confused. I was there when it all kicked off and my cousin lives in Hackney so I missed the irony at first. Luckily he was OK.
Good thoughts though from everyone on this.

[ashmie]

I did nearly sign up though they maximum age for drafting in now is 32! If you have a degree they let you go in as an officer. Surprising.
Mind you Prussia was 40!

That reminds me must get some painting done, it's been months. All I seem to do is read newspapers these days. Must be a married thing.

[job]

As for that Pat Condell guy, what a champion. He said all the things I was thinking but dared not say. Actually, I don't think he went far enough. I think one solution for these pathetic, stupid parasites would be to send them to some sort of camps in the countryside. Somewhere where they could really 'concentrate' and reflect on the trouble they have caused.

BTW What a professional too. I loved the way he subtly sucked up the froth that was starting to form at the corners of his mouth. And the way he manged to keep from screaming 'Sieg Heil' ecstatically at the top of his lungs as he orgasmed was just fabulous.

I just wish I had the cojones to post my own views on 'Youtube' like that. I would love to be able to get all red faced and overexcited spouting forth an unsubstantiated, unsupported diatribe like that all the while tossing my cookies off camera.

Dang it, Mike. You almost got me choking to death on my ice cream. Well, said!

[Primarch]

Sorry Ashmie. My tongue may just have been in my cheek as I wrote the last few posts.

Oh I thought that you had your head stuck up your ar$e.

There are a lot of reasons why people did what they did, but ultimately it was the lack of fear of reprisals from the police and the government. The police have arrested hundreds of people, but there were thousands involved. Even those who have been sentenced got off with just a few months jail time at worst.

[job]

Sorry Ashmie. My tongue may just have been in my cheek as I wrote the last few posts.

Oh I thought that you had your head stuck up your ar$e.

There are a lot of reasons why people did what they did, but ultimately it was the lack of fear of reprisals from the police and the government. The police have arrested hundreds of people, but there were thousands involved. Even those who have been sentenced got off with just a few months jail time at worst.

I'll just say, what was imparted to me in an urban economics course. Economically, (micro-economics) apparently when judging the behavior of criminals, it is not effective to increase penalties. Often criminals don't see dangers and punishment the same way as other people (people who don't see crimes as viable or morally right), so when punishment increases they don't respond by stopping their such behavior. Nor does rehabilitation or counseling programs seem to work all that well.
Instead, criminals seem to respond to the fear of being caught. If the likelihood of being caught is high, the criminals tend to stop at committing a crime. The proper response according to this rationale is that greater enforcement of law (more officers, more patrols, etc.) is the best way to deter criminal activity.

[Mike the Pike]

@Prim: The position you suggest would not preclude my tongue from being in my cheek

@job: Not to mention, that putting minor league trouble makers in the prison population where they can mix with 'real' criminals is also a recipe for disaster. I agree that greater policing is the most effective 'end-of-pipe' solution. It certainly worked for Giulinani(sp) in New York. However, an even better solution would be to look at the root causes of these problems and fix those.

[job]

@Prim: The position you suggest would not preclude my tongue from being in my cheek

@job: Not to mention, that putting minor league trouble makers in the prison population where they can mix with 'real' criminals is also a recipe for disaster. I agree that greater policing is the most effective 'end-of-pipe' solution. It certainly worked for Giulinani(sp) in New York. However, an even better solution would be to look at the root causes of these problems and fix those.

Yeah, I'm not saying I love police. Half the guys I've met in uniform were great guys, and I'm glad they are there. And another half the guys seemed like they wanted me to stop being polite to them so they could crush my skull or unload into me. (Ok, exaggeration, but these guys were on a power trip.)

Still, NYC did see really good effects from putting additional officers on the street, according to articles I've read in the NYTimes. Of course, this is the same department that periodically unloads several magazines of 9mm rounds into immigrant men sitting on their porches.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amadou_Diallo_shooting
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sean_Bell_ ... g_incident

Yeah, on a side note, I have to say we Americans know what it is like to grow up in the hood, yo. Your pOlice shot twice; ours, 40-50 shots.